


It Came Upon a Midafternoon

by Tea_and_roses



Series: His Butler, Observing Holidays [5]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Adult Ciel Phantomhive, Baking, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Contracts, Domestic Fluff, Faustian Bargain, Fluff, Kissing, Kittens, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, gingerbread, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 03:06:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17296562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea_and_roses/pseuds/Tea_and_roses
Summary: For once it is Ciel who has a mysterious errand to complete, a Christmas Eve gift to bestow, and the delightful task of kissing Sebastian first. This is Christmas Eve fluff, plus gingerbread and a kitten.





	It Came Upon a Midafternoon

December 24, 1906

 

The most promising gingerbread-baking enterprise in all of London came to a halt in the main kitchen of the Phantomhive Manor, interrupted by a brusque knock at the front door that set the earl’s hunting dog bounding and barking through the grounds.

Sebastian had washed his hands to an immaculate state, shed a meticulous apron, and arrived at the door in mere seconds.

A flutter of snow flurries and a thoroughly-bundled-up Ciel Phantomhive drifted into the mansion’s entrance hall.

“Good heavens,” Sebastian swore.

“Missed you too,” grumbled Ciel, and landed a sloppy kiss on Sebastian’s lips without otherwise touching him. The earl was clearly in something of good spirits, then, in spite of everything. In spite of a sleet-wet peacoat and snowflake-soggy hair and a bundle of blanket occupying his arms.

“What have you, adopted a child?”

“Happy Christmas,” replied Ciel gruffly, and shoved the heap into Sebastian’s arms. “If I catch my death over this at least you can have it to keep you company.”

“It” was a velvet-soft grey kitten, half frozen, half smothered, and entirely, miraculously perfect.

Sebastian was kissing Ciel, pressed up against the door, before the earl quite knew what was happening. The kitten-bundle had been carefully, temporarily stowed on the floor, where it uttered one tiny, charming note in protest.

“You are—absolute—perfection,” Sebastian promised Ciel, around wild kisses, methodically stripping off the sodden coat and damp scarf and letting them fall to the entryway floor a ways from the kitten.

“That coat cost _four pounds_ ,” Ciel reminded, feigning contradiction out of habit, but reciprocating Sebastian’s affection.

“Then you may take any and all damages out of my salary,” vowed Sebastian, kissing Ciel gently and sounding the part of a perfect gentleman. His smile, however, was wicked. Sebastian’s fingers danced down the earl’s blazer and up his waistcoat, slipping buttons from buttonholes, leaving layers of clothing hanging open down to the shirt. “…That is—if—when we are—through—you can—remember to—”

Ciel made a sound between a gasp and a squeak so uncharacteristic that Sebastian drew back at once, hands steadying Ciel’s waist so that he would not step onto the kitten.

Before Sebastian could so much as inquire what had gone wrong, he found that Ciel’s attention was very pointedly directed over his shoulder. Behind a pink-red blush drawn on from more than just the weather, Ciel said severely, “That will be all, Bard.”

“Just here to do my duty, sir,” Baldroy assured from across the entrance hall. It was untrue, of course. More distressingly for Sebastian, the man was carrying on his shoulder a great wooden crate of groceries, from which sugar and some kind of sauce were leaking in trails; in the other hand, he swung a large parcel that clearly harbored a flamethrower. “Gotta make Christmas dinner and all that.”

“Baldroy,” summoned Sebastian, envisioning the frightful fate of the gingerbread, the kitchen, and the rest of his holiday if the man made any more progress. Sebastian stepped away to face the servant and carefully painted on a look of genuine concern. _Baldroy has many uses besides life-threatening pyrotechnics and incessant irritation_ , he informed himself, repeatedly. “Have you forgotten? You are all on holiday today.”

“’S not Boxing Day, and ’s not Christmas Day, either.”

In previous years, Sebastian had taken to excusing the servants from any attempts at working on Christmas Day, which effectively reduced his own workload of damage control and allowed him to enjoy a day with Ciel. This year, for the sake of a gingerbread project he wished to finish, Sebastian had made further allowances in the morning that were not yet officially sanctioned by the earl.

“It is a bonus day,” Sebastian replied. “Granted to you in gratitude and great generosity by our _dear_ master.”

 _So_ very dear, Sebastian thought in amusement, almost-but-not-quite regretting the words on account of Ciel’s furious blush, which he could nearly feel warming the room.

“Yeah,” said Baldroy, “I do remember you sayin’ about that this morning, but I thought this would be a nice present still.”

“Why don’t you,” said Sebastian, “go out to the garden and find the lord’s gift to you.”

“And Sebastian’s,” put in Ciel, languidly generous.

“Your gift,” Sebastian continued, “is an entire new kitchen building, apart from the rest of the manor buildings, in which you can cook whatever you wish without my interference.”  

“You’re kidding,” Baldroy scoffed, hesitant to believe the good news.

“On Christmas Eve? Certainly not; that would be unkind. No, you are welcome to go and see for yourself.”

Apparently dumbfounded by the news, Baldroy opened and shut his mouth a couple of times.

“Happy Christmas,” offered Sebastian, with a bit more benevolence than he necessarily felt.

“Well, uh… wow. Thanks!” Baldroy saluted them and trekked off through the manor house, spilling dinner ingredients behind him.

“That was good of you, by the way—Baldroy’s gift this year,” Ciel observed, his voice soft as silk.

“And a good investment of yours to fund it, I think, if we wish for the house to remain intact.” Sebastian wrapped his arms around Ciel again. “Shall we continue?”

“We could,” the earl agreed half-heartedly, “though I can’t help but wonder whether you are ever going to go and enjoy your new kitten. If you only knew what a bother it is getting anything, let alone a live animal, on Christmas Eve—”

“Ah yes, if only there were some way your butler could possibly comprehend what it is to shop in London this time of year…”

“Honestly, Sebastian, do you not _want_ the kitten?”

“Just the contrary. It is the perfect gift, my lord.”

The butler obligingly released Ciel with a final kiss to his hair, and scooped up the blanketed kitten to fondle. The kitten was excellence incarnate, naturally; the only cause for disappointment was Ciel’s quickness to renounce Sebastian’s attentions.

“Are you angry with me for getting us caught?” Sebastian inquired mildly. It was quite unlike the earl to suggest giving attention to anyone or anything but himself. The more Sebastian thought about it, the more he was amazed that he had been granted this kitten to dote upon, amazed that Ciel would spare an ounce of Sebastian’s affection that could have otherwise been claimed by the earl.

“No, no,” Ciel dismissed. “I always feel odd—you know that—about the servants thinking of us as… human.”

“Well I should expect,” said Sebastian, “that seeing my wings has precluded their thinking that on my account, but I do apologize for damaging the illusion of your superhumanity.”

“You know what I mean,” Ciel insisted.

“I do,” said Sebastian, laughing as the kitten attempted to suckle his finger. “I am also either impressed or baffled as to why you would give me any other creature upon which to bestow my affections.”

“I have a heart,” Ciel protested.

“A very beautiful, exquisite, jealous one.”

“You gave me the dog,” he explained with a shrug. “I simply wanted you to… have a good Christmas. In spite of always having to put up with such a grumpy, demanding, _stingy-hearted_ lover.” A playful smile flickered on Ciel’s lips.

“If you—” (Sebastian delicately set the kitten down once again to put his hands on Ciel) “—smile at me like that any more, my lord, I swear, that poor innocent kitten is going to starve to death because I shall be so very, very distracted from now until New Year’s.”

Ciel nodded. “All right. No smiling.” He tightened his arms around the small of Sebastian’s back, drawing him into a kiss.

Finnian dropped a box of Christmas ornaments and stood with his mouth agape, facing the entrance hall. It was possible that the earl’s shirt was now one-third-unbuttoned. It was possible that the poor gardener was standing in a minefield of metal bits and shattered glass. It was possible that Sebastian had been so distracted by Ciel that his keen senses had, again, failed to provide adequate warning to head off disaster.

“Forgive me, my lord,” murmured Sebastian contritely, bowing his head and re-buttoning at least the top button of Ciel’s shirt before turning away to attend to Finnian.

“We haven’t—we haven’t even put up the mistletoe yet!” the servant stammered, staring in something like stunned delight at the doorframe.

“Are you surprised?” asked Sebastian evenly. This was hardly the most compromising situation in which Finnian had found them.

The man shook his head; Sebastian was right.

“Stay where you are,” the butler ordered, and disappeared into the manor to find a broom and dustpan and damp cloth. He returned to find Finnian still in place; Ciel, on the other hand, was now kneeling on the ground beside the blanket, tentatively stroking the top of the kitten’s fuzzy head with cautious fingertips. Surely Sebastian had, somehow, died and found himself in heaven.

“Well, get to work,” Ciel snapped, recalling Sebastian to earth, where he was staring, probably slack-jawed, at his master.

“Of course, my lord,” the butler murmured, busying himself with the chore of freeing Finnian. When the entire mess had been fastidiously swept up and washed, down to the last shard, he sent Finnian away with the cleaning supplies.

Awestruck and hesitant, Sebastian stood before the earl, as though afraid to break the spell.

“It is not,” Ciel pronounced carefully, “all bad, this kitten. To my great surprise.”

“Are you entirely sure you’re well, my lord?” Sebastian asked, an incredulous smile tugging at his mouth.

“And a happy Christmas to you, too, demon,” Ciel said, feigning offense and getting to his feet. He stepped closer to Sebastian, and subtly nudged him with one hip. “Perhaps if we keep this up, Mey-Rin will drop in next.”

“You’re—very persuasive, my lord, but you’ll excuse me if I haven’t time to attend to a _dead_ servant on this particular holiday.”

“Then, butler, what do you propose?”

 

“Why did you have to make so many kinds of gingerbread?” Ciel complained.

“Because I love you,” Sebastian replied, kissing Ciel’s gingerbread-flavored mouth while bustling about the kitchen in a spotless apron.

“Make me tea?”

Sebastian, wrist deep in gingerbread dough and flour, waved a hand, and a cup of steaming peppermint tea, summoned from thin air, appeared on the sideboard by Ciel.

“Where on earth is the effort in that?” the earl pretended to be affronted, thoroughly enjoying the irony as Sebastian slaved over dozens upon dozens of additional gingerbread cookies. “Lazy demon.”

“If you were anyone else,” mused Sebastian, “I should throw things at you. Flour comes to mind.”

“You would not dare.”

“No,” Sebastian agreed, “I would not. I like you far too much.”

Ciel set aside the peppermint tea and stepped close to Sebastian’s back, seemingly to watch over his shoulder, upon which Ciel rested his chin.

“Can I help you?” the butler asked archly.

“Turn toward me?”

Sebastian obediently moved, but Ciel interrupted sharply.

“ _Don’t_ touch me. Your hands are a mess.”

“Very well.” Sebastian held his hands aloft, away from Ciel’s body and clothing.

The earl leaned in and kissed his butler soundly.

“Hands!” Ciel reminded, as Sebastian instinctively moved his arms. Sebastian placed his hands safely on the counter behind his back, leaned into his hands, and let the earl kiss him.

Ciel beamed back, all mischievous smiles and bliss. The kitten had been entrusted to the temporary care of Mr. Tanaka. The evening belonged to earl and butler. There was nowhere Ciel would rather be than in this warm and gingerbread-scented kitchen, hair still damp with snow, lips pressed to Sebastian’s.

Mey-Rin announced her entrance with a dramatic gasp and subsequent crash near the kitchen doorway.

Ciel dragged himself from Sebastian with effort.

“Please,” the demon entreated, almost inaudibly.

Melting, Ciel relented and pressed his lips back to Sebastian’s.

“Mey-Rin,” said the earl, voice slurred around kisses, “are you all right?”

“Y-y-y-yes,” Mey-Rin squeaked from the ground.

“Why don’t you ask Tanaka for whatever you need?” Ciel suggested, his lips brushing Sebastian’s with every word. His hands were possessive and affectionate, one drawing Sebastian closer by the small of his back, the other tracing Sebastian’s face. The butler remained where he stood, hands back upon the counter, submissive and absolutely captivated.

“R—right, Mister Ciel,” Mey-Rin choked out, fumbling to her feet and gathering up the cleaning supplies.

Ciel did not stop kissing Sebastian as Mey-Rin clumsily tidied up and bumbled out of the kitchen. If anything, he continued more dramatically and obviously.

“You didn’t stop,” said Sebastian, amazed, when Mey-Rin was gone.

“No,” Ciel agreed.

“I have never,” gasped Sebastian, “been as in love with you as I am right now, my lord.”

“I owed you a few,” the earl said dismissively. His eyes were downcast modestly, but he was evidently pleased. “Now I suggest you finish this baking project, efficiently. A kitten is hardly the only gift I wish to give you for Christmas.”

“I am made of expectation, my lord,” said Sebastian, resuming his work in earnest.

If Ciel left his arms looped around Sebastian’s waist, and if Sebastian were slightly less efficacious of a baker as a result, neither of them seemed to wish things any different.


End file.
